Abstract books of the First Scientific Day of the Karak Governmental Hospital 2014

Yesterday, I had the honor of being a participant in the first scientific day of the Karak Governmental hospital. I was not only a member of the organizing committee, but also, a speaker in one paper, and co-author in two others. The event was under the patronage of the minister of Health, Dr. Ali Hiasat. However, he could not come and sent the Head of the Directorate of Health of Karak Governorate, Dr. Haitham Al-Mohesen. The event was organized with the help of the Jordanian Hematology Society headed by Prof. Abdullah Abbadi. The president of Mutah University, Prof. Rida Khawaldeh, and Prof. Zouhair Ammarin, the dean of the faculty of Medicine at Mutah University attended the inauguration ceremony.

From the second person in the right side of the photo: Prof. Abdullah Abbadi, President of the Jordanian Society of Hematology, Prof. Rida Khawaldeh, President of Mutah University, and Dr. Zouhair Ammarin, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Mutah University.

This was the first time ever for the Karak Governmental hospital to organize a scientific day. I was lucky enough that this coincided with my being an intern in this hospital. Five of my fellow interns and I were given the chance to present three researches of ours. I certainly thank Dr. Zakaria Al-Nawaiseh, the Manger of the Karak Governmental and the President of the scientific day. I also thank Dr. Hani Al-Hamaidah, the head of the scientific committee and the dean of the faculty of Pharmacy at Mutah University.

The schedule

Dr. Zakaria Al-Nawiseh, the Manger of the Karak Governmental and the President of the scientific day: Certainly, he will be remembered for having organized the first scientific day in the history of Karak Governmental hospital!

Dr. Hani Al-Hamaidah, the head of the scientific committee and the dean of the faculty of Pharmacy at Mutah University.

Prof. Abdullah Abaddi while giving his lecture about Stems Cells in Jordan

My role in the organizing committee was to design and prepare the abstract book of the scientific day. Yes, it took me a lot of time. However, I learnt many new techniques in Microsoft Word, and gained a considerable experience on how to organize a schedule and deal with a lot of abstracts. The organizing company of the event, “Around the World Company for Conferences”, actually added the very beautiful upper and lower margins for each page. Also, they designed a cover pages of the abstract book. I was really impressed by this company, not only because of the previous, but also by the overall professional organization of the scientific day. Thank you! I wrote my name at the end page of the book and I put an ad to my facebook page Medical Conferences in Jordan(to keep updated with medical conferences in Jordan). The company did not remove it. However, they used a new design for the cover page.

My design for the Cover Page of the Abstract Book of The First Scientific Day of the Karak Governmental Hospital:

This is the abstract of the paper that I presented:

Did finishing the psychiatry clerkship improve the attitudes of medical students at Mutah University toward Psychiatry?

1 Interns, Ministry of Health, Jordan.2Fifth-year medical student, Mutah University, Karak, Jordan.3 Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Internal Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan.*Sixth-year medical students at Mutah University at the time this study was conducted

Background: Countries around the world, especially low- to middle-income ones, face a shortage of psychiatrists. Psychiatry has always been an unfavorable specialty for many medical students. Several studies have confirmed that psychiatry training and exposure is associated with the development or increase of positive attitudes toward psychiatry Objective: To investigate if the fifth-year psychiatry clerkship is associated with an improvement of the attitudes of medical students toward psychiatry. Methods: A total of 200 4th-, 5th-, and 6th-year medical students participated in our study. Of the sample, 102 (51.0%) were females, and 98 (49.0%) were males. Our study questionnaire included the Attitudes toward Psychiatry-30 items (ATP-30) scale. This is a commonly used and validated scale for assessing the attitudes of medical students toward psychiatry. Results: Analysis showed that there is a positive and statistically significant increase in the ATP-30 mean score of students after finishing the psychiatry clerkship (t= -2.277, p=0.024). This statistical significance in the increase of positive attitudes was found among male students (t=-3.070, 0.003) but not among female students (t=-0.121, p=0.904). Conclusions: Like many researches from countries around the world, our results showed that having finished the psychiatry rotation was associated with the development of positive attitudes toward psychiatry. Our research identified some of the negative attitudes and misconceptions that students have about psychiatry. By identifying and addressing them in the future, we hope that this will translate into more positive attitudes of our students toward psychiatry. Indirectly, we hope that this will translate to more students choosing psychiatry as a specialty. Keywords:psychiatry, attitudes, medical students.

The first slide in my presentation: Did finishing the psychiatry clerkship improve the attitudes of medical students at Mutah University toward Psychiatry?

Systemic hypertension is a major public health problem worldwide. It is a leading factor for coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, stroke, renal disease, and retinopathy. This study aimed to explore hypertension complications among hospitalized hypertensive patients. Also, it aimed to identify the treatment of hypertension employed by these patients and compare the incidence of complications among different treatment groups. Our study was a cross-sectional study that we conducted at Al-Karak and Al-Bashir Governmental Teaching Hospitals in the period from October 2011 till March 2013. Our sample consisted of 162 patients; 96 males (59%) and 66 females (40.7%). Age of patients ranged from 40-100 years (mean of 65± 12.0 years). The percentages of patients on mono-, double-, triple-, and quadruple-therapy were 44.4%, 34.6%, 17.3%, and 3.7% respectively. Diuretics were the most commonly used drugs in 107 patients (35%), followed by ACEI/ARBS (86 patients, 28.2%), BBs (80 patients, 26.2%), and CCBs (32, 10.5%). More males than females were on mono- and double-therapy (84.4% v.s.71.2%). Of the patients on monotherapy (72 patients, 44.4%), the most common drug used is a loop diuretic (27 patients, 37.5%) followed by ACEIs/ARBs (22 patients, 30.6%). The prevalence of complications in patients on monotherapy was higher in patients with loop diuretics )26 patients, 38.2%) than patients on ACEIs/ARBs (19 patients, 27.0%) or BB (19 patients, 27.0%). The most common double therapy combination was a ACEI/ARB and BB (28.6%), followed by Loop & BB (26.8%). The most common triple therapy combination was a loop diuretic, ACE, and BB (28.6%). The most common complication in patients on monotherapy was Angina/ACS (29 patients, 42.6%), followed by CV/TIA (20 patients, 29.4%). The most common complications in patients on double therapy was Angina/ACS (20 patients, 36.4%), followed by decompensated HF (18 patients, 32.7%). The most common complication in patients on triple therapy was decompensated HF (10 patients, 37.0%) followed by CVATIA (8 patients, 29.5%). It is concluded that the prevalence of hypertensive complications decreases as the number of antihypertensive drugs taken increases although the type of complication is not significantly changed.

A banner hanged on one of the doors of the basic faculty building: Under the patronage of his Excellency the president of the university of Mu’tah\ Inauguration of the ninth scientific conference of the faculty of medicine\ Mu’tah University, 10-11/4/2013.

Today and yesterday, April 10-11th, 2013, the 9th scientific conference of our faculty took place. In it, for the second year in a row, I was a speaker. On behalf of some dear friends of mine, I presented a paper entitled:

A cross-sectional study on the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors among patients hospitalized for complicated hypertension at two Jordanian Hospitals.

Like this:

Last year, during the period from June 26-30, I attended the 25th conference of NAAMA (National Arab American Medical Association) in Le Meridien Hotel in Amman. During the conference, I heard many Arab American doctors stressing the importance of Medical Research for medical students who want to pursuit their higher studies in the USA and other western countries.

Because of how much this subject was stressed, I went back to my faculty with the goal of starting a research in whatever field of medicine. I set up this goal only to be later on shocked by how unrealistic is such a goal!

Frankly speaking, my university curriculum does not require students neither to prepare nor to publish any medical research as part of their undergraduate studies. In the USA, on the other hand, it is a different story. Dr. Wael K. Al-Delaimy, an Iraqi-American professor told me during the same conference:

Dr. Wael K. Al-Delaimy

“In contrary to the situation in our Arab countries, before graduating, US students are required to prepare at least one research”

The above sad fact is the most important obstacle that faced me. Firstly, I will find hardship in finding a professor that will be available solely for the aim of helping me in doing a research. Secondly, the huge time that any student will spend in doing a research would not be compensated with marks. Certainly, this will affect the university marks of the students who will be subtracting time from studying their university curriculum and investing it in a research.

Dr. Aiman Hamdan, a Jordan Unviersity of Science and Technology graduate (second batch), who is now a cardiologist in the United States and certified with seven boards, had the following to say regarding this sad fact:

Dr. Aiman Hamdan

“During my University years in JUST, if my father knew that I am doing a research and not studying to get high marks, he would have KILLED me!”

Source: Dr. Aiman Hamdan said the above comment in a lecture he gave –with other Arab-American doctors- about studying in the USA in King Abdullah University Hospital in Irbid in June 2011 as part of the activities of NAAMA’s 25th conference.

Despite the hardship mentioned above, I enrolled in two researches; lucky me!

“Finally,” I happily thought, “I will be doing what students in developed country are doing!”. “But could this be a reality? Is that possible?” I found hardship in accepting this very happy piece of news. But at the end… Why should I not hope? How are students in Harvard university better than me?[3]

I felt like I was finally going to achieve something! I will not only be graduating with a certificate, but also, having mastered how to prepare and publish a research! I felt too proud of the notion of having my name on a published research in a medical journal. Can you imagine how important is this achievement?

My happiness did not last long. The first research ended because we discovered that we were collecting “useless” data that no conclusions can be drawn from it [Update 09.04.2012: This was a wrong conclusion. Things went differently than I and my colleagues calculated… It is one of the times in which you are happy when your calculations turn out to be wrong!Read more!]

The second reserach was very succesfful. However, due to deduction of the amount of credit our supervising doctors will get from including us in the publication, I refused to be included in the publication “initially”. Still, the supervising doctor refused but to include us in the publication. “I have an enlightening plan!” The doctor said. “I came back from abroad with a main aim of letting you do what I was taught abroad”. Truthfully, this doctor is sacrificying a lot by including us in the publication. What he is doing would be normal where he studied abroad, but is the situation the same here in the Arab world? Do universities in the arab wrold care about scientific research? Do our universities provides incentives to both doctors and students to do scientific research?

Frankly speaking, it seems that we have a problem… a big problem… How did I come up with this conclusion? But most importantly, who is responsible?

Every year, a report is published on the Academic ranking of World Universities (ARWU), commonly known as the Shanghai ranking. During the year 2011, the following statistics came out:

Universities that have been included in the top 500 world universities on the Shanghai ranking 2011:

Arab Universities[1]

Israeli Universities[2]

A. King Saud University (201-300)B. King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (301-400)C. Cairo University (401-500)

A. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (57)B. Technion-Israel Institute of Technology (102-150)C. Tel Aviv University (102-150)

D. Weizmann Institute of Science (102-150)

E. Bar-Ilan University (301-400)

F. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (301-400)

G. University of Haifa (401-500)

Total: 3 universities

Total: 7 universities

Arab countries v.s. Israel

To summarize the above table:Israel, a country with less than 8 million people, has 7 universities among the top 500 universities in the world. While 22 Arab countries with 355 million people, have only 3 universities in the same list!

Finally, and again and again, the first step in solving any problem is to recognize its existence in the first place. Is there a problem in our universities in the Arab world? It is left to your judgment!

So… I belive it is too unfair to attribute the problem to a single doctor, a single university, or a single country! As you can read above, it is a problem of…